High five!

There is one mandatory command in our (basketball-oriented) home: the high five.



Riley is impressively good at it. This is just another item that can be added to the list of reasons why Riley is definitely our puppy-child:

1) She loves pizza.

2) She's as stubborn as all get-out.

3) She learned the high five on her first attempt.

4) She loves to watch movies and sleep.

Noah, how much for the ark?

I dropped Duff off at school this morning so he can join his team on their trip to Orlando for a Christmas tournament. Since the head coach is already in Florida, Duff is basically in charge of getting 14 college-age boys to Florida alive. Luckily it is a non-stop flight...

Anyway, I returned home and decided that today would be the perfect day to hang those pictures that I framed ages ago. Alas, it was not to be. I trotted down to the basement to get nails and a hammer when I found this:

Apparently two days of rain combined with 20 inches of snow melt = a flood in the O'Currents basement (we've had plenty of rain before with no problems--I have no idea why this would happen now...when Duff is gone...). The water is actually coming up through small cracks in the basement floor. This is the area of the basement floor that has a patch on it. The patch now gooshes when you step on it (nice!).

The below pictures show a close up of the (shop-vacced) puddle as well as how much water the carpets have soaked up.

These pictures aren't even that bad. I didn't remember to grab my camera until I was emptying out the first shop-vac tub full of water into the back yard. Yes, that's right. This is what it looked like with about 10 gallons of water soaked up by the shop-vac. That lighter gray (dry-ish) area over by where you see the long shop-vac hose--yeah, that was all under about a 1/4 inch of water. It was bad...

Now our plans for finishing the basement and reusing those carpets all have to be thrown out. Some of the tools that were on the floor there (I moved them prior to the pictures) may have to be thrown out, too. Overall its a big mess. :(

Merry Christmas

from the O'Currents

Lou-lou, I bought my boots!

Aren't they fabulous?

A Snow-Line

8 am (Saturday)

12 pm (noon)

4 pm

8 pm

8 am (Sunday)

Insert appropriate Christmas carol here:

*ten points to the first person who guesses the Christmas carol to which I am referring

Well, folks, we are officially in a winter storm warning. Ironic, considering its bright and sunny and there's not a cloud in the sky right now.

But by midday tomorrow we're supposed to have 8-12 inches of snow. This is catastrophic by Pennsylvania standards (I just think it sounds like fun ;) ).

The forecast also presents a problem since we are supposed to be traveling tomorrow for Duff's extended family's Christmas party. Snow will definitely be an impediment to that. Hopefully the weather will clear up by late Saturday, but if not, it looks like the perfect night to try out our fireplace and sip hot cocoa, don't you think?

I'll keep you updated on conditions--hopefully with pictures if my camera will cooperate.

There's no place like home

Especially not after driving all the way across the state and back. Or, if you're Duff, working open to close for 8 straight days and recruiting Friday and Saturday nights. That's right...more fun times at the O'Current's house.

But at least the puppy has returned. I don't have many good pictures of the trip because my camera decided to act up halfway through, but here are a few choice favorites.

Riley in her crate at the show.

None of Riley actually showing due to the aforementioned technical difficulties.

Riley on the way home.

Oh dear

I woke Duff up at 4:30 this morning by talking in my sleep. Apparently, I was saying something about liking the little black fuzzy one in the corner. Anyone else think that I'm missing my puppy???

Dear Santa (part II)

We all know that if you ask Duff what I want for Christmas you will probably be met with one thing: silence. So to help y'all out, I have created the below.

1. DVDs


But not just any DVDs. We're talking movies I've always loved but now only have on VHS. Like...

Anne of Green Gables

The Princess Bride

Emma

While you were sleeping

Dance with Me

Little Women

10 Things I Hate About You

The Fifth Element

The Matrix

2. IKEA gift cards

I'm going to use IKEA bookshelves and some decorative trim to create a built-in library in the current dog room on the cheap (similar to the above pic). But unfortunately its not that cheap, so any help would be appreciated. Plus, I love IKEA. ;)

3. Home Depot (or Lowe's) gift cards
See above. :)


4. Banana Republic gift cards
A girl can never have too many clothes...even if they are for work.


And that's all I could think of, folks. Sorry I couldn't be more numerous but its much harder to make a list for yourself than for someone else. *sigh. But Merry Christmas to all anyway!

Dear Santa,

This is probably some kind of faux paux, but since I am pretty sure that Duff never, ever, EVER reads this blog (I used to hold out hope that he might even help contribute but have now given up all hope), I am posting what I think is his perfect Christmas wish list. So now you all can stop asking me what he wants. And because its fun... (please keep in mind, some of these items I am thinking of getting for him myself).

1. Bosch Variable Speed Palm Router

Cuz he's always wanted one.

2. An iPod Touch (32 GB)

Because he managed to leave his coat at one of his basketball games a few weeks ago (see below gift)...with his iPod inside.

3. A Pea Coat

(see description above) Duff's pretty picky about his coats, so make sure you talk to me first before you try to purchase this for him.

4. Winegard HD 7210P Antenna

Because Castle is one of his favorite shows and we don't get ABC with our current antenna. Along with the antenna we also need a Winegard AP 8700 preamplifier so we can add tvs to the bedroom and basement (yay!). If we don't get this for Christmas, I'm totally requesting it for my birthday...cuz I love Grey's Anatomy.

5. A yard shed

(ok, maybe this isn't a practical gift for the Christmas list, but I'm putting it on anyway) Next year when we finish the basement, all that yard stuff is going to need a home. Plus, I'm tired of Duff tracking dirt, grass and leaves into the house. Either that or someone can pay the gazillion dollars it will cost to build us a garage...

6. Gift cards for Home Depot (or Lowe's)

They will definitely be used.

7. Cuff links

So he can stop borrowing mine

8. A black suit and a grey suit

He needs them for basketball and his old black suit managed to rip (in an unrepairable way) at the last game. He is also picky about these, so call me first if you want to get this for him.

I may add more to this list later but this is all the ideas I have for now. Feel free to make a comment on this post if you're getting one or another of these gifts, so then others will know not to get them.

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!

Update: More items.

I have two more items to add to the list.

9. A garment bag.

We have a garment bag that Matt currently uses for basketball games but its big and heavy and meant for airport travel. What he really needs is a nice, light garment bag that he can throw his suit and shoes into and take on the bus with him.

10. A stud finder

Not that kind--one for the walls! With our brittle plaster walls, we only get one shot in putting a nail in the wall before the whole thing crumbles. So a stud finder will be instrumental in minimizing the damage. Plus, Matt likes toys like this. ;)

Sorry, sorry, sorry

So its been a month since I wrote anything. I apologize. I'm sure you weren't holding you're breathe, though. You're probably getting used to it.

Anyway, things have been very busy around here, as you can imagine, so I only have a few pictures to share.

First, we had all of our ceiling lights installed (yeah!). They look something like this:

Next, I've been working a lot, including at home on the weekends. When she can, Riley likes to help.

And finally, we put up this year's Christmas decorations yesterday (please excuse the pictures from here on out--Duff took them this morning and he wasn't too happy about it).

Which was just in time for our first snowfall.

If only Riley were here to enjoy it. But instead, she's visiting the grandparents for a few weeks and it looks like she's fitting right in.